Pybus Public Market will encourage water conservation, local foods, recycling, paperless operations

Promoting sustainable enterprises that benefit local residents is a key component of the proposed Pybus Public Market. 

Mike Walker, owner of the Eagle Group companies, has committed to spending as much as $2 million to build the proposed market and run it for up to five years. The market that Walker envisions will have a strong sustainability component, he said. 

Working with the Chelan County Port District, Walker plans to convert the old Morse Steel warehouse at the foot of Orondo Avenue in Wenatchee to a year-round public market. Outdoors, it would become the permanent home of the Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market. Indoors, the building would be speckled with spaces for eateries, retail sales, community gatherings and live music. 

In an email, Walker elaborated on the plans.  

“While it’s early in the game and we don’t have all of our ducks in a row yet, we do have some specific goals in mind that relate directly to sustainability,” he said. They are:  

• Provide local food bank centers with fresh produce unsold during the daily markets.  Produce will be held in refrigerated cold storage at the market until distribution occurs.
• Create an infrastructure that makes nutritious food available, accessible and affordable to all, which encourages local production to replace nationally or internationally produced items.
• Offer a demonstration kitchen for cooking classes on the preparation and use of local fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Sell products that sustain people.
• Nurture our human capital.
• Encourage a paperless business model.
• Use our smarts responsibly to help people flourish.
• Establish rain gardens that allow rainwater runoff from impervious areas like roofs, driveways, walkways and parking lots the opportunity to be absorbed into the ground.
• Create mixed-use vegetable garden areas in landscape.
• Maximize use of indigenous plants in landscape design to conserve water.
• Repurpose 30,000+ square feet of concrete slabs remaining from building demolition into parking areas and space for the local farmer’s market.
• Sponsor a community solar project. 

Work on the building’s exterior is expected to begin in September, with space ready for tenants by next summer.  

Related
Eagle Group owner puts up $2 million for Pybus (Wenatchee World)
 

Tags: environment, green, landscaping, local foods, paperless, recycle, sustainability, xeric

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 12th, 2012 at 8:15 am and is filed under Environment, Solar, Water conservation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.